Trick-house.



PATENTBD PEB. 28, 1905.

A. B. GRIFFEN.

THICK HOUSE.

APPLIUATION FILED JULY so, 1904.

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Patented February 28, i903.

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ARlI-:IUR B. GRlFFEN, 0F VERGNA, NEiV JERSEY, ASSlGNOR TO HIMSELF, ANT) WflQLLlAM C. CLARKE AND ULARKSON A. (lOLl'ilNS, UF NEW YRK, N. Y.

'l'lCilCltm-MUE.

SPECIFICATION 'forming part of Letters Patent No. 783,831, dated February 28, 1905.

Application filed July 30, 1904. Serial No. 218,845.

To rit/.Z wif/,ont t 'Hefty concern:

lBe it known that l. ARTHUR B. GRIFFEN, a citizen of the United States, residing in Verona, in the county of Essex and State of New ll ersey, have made a new and useful Invention oi' a 'lli'ick-l'iouse, ot' which the following is a specilication.

rllhe object of my invention is to provide a means o i' amusement, recreation, and instruction.

'lo this end I. make use of the principle, upon which the operation of my invention is based, oi the unconscious adaptation of the muscular movements el" the body to the physical conditionsunder which one believes ones self to be acting'.

ln carrying my invention into eiiect I construct a house having' outer walls which are perpendicular or at right angles with the plane ot' the horizon in the usual manner. Vithin these outer walls a room or rooms, the lioors oi which are sloping-1l c., form an angle with the plane oi' the horizon. The ceilings of such room or rooms are parallel with the iioor. The walls of the room or rooms are at right angles to the Floor, and the rooms are preferably provided with natural accessories--such as supporting-posts, window-frames, and such other articles as maybe desired--which are also at right angles with the Hoor. Entrance to and exit from the room is effected by means of a passage or passages within the outer walls of the house and doors so arranged that no view can be had from the inner room of objects exterior thereto nor o'l" the interior of the room 'from without. For this purpose also the room is lighted by day by means of a skylight placed in the ceiling' instead of by windows in the walls. so that there is no opportunity to compare the position otl theroom with external objects. The result oi this con struction is that to a person entering' the room the lioor appears to be level and the walls perpendicular, as 1n an ordinary room. `Consewill invariably find himseliwithout apparent cause arriving at a different point from that aimed at or compelled to exert a considerable sidewise or turning' e'lort to enable him to reach the desired point.

The invention will be best understood by reierence to the accompanying' drawings, which show a house constructed in accordance with my invention.

Figure l shows a vertical section on the line l l in Fig. E2, and Fig'. 2 a horizontal section on the line 2 2 in Fig. l. In Fig. 3 the inner room is shown in dotted lines within the outer walls; and Fig'. Ll isa perspective of the inner room, showing' the lifting of one corner.

The same letters of reference indicate corresponding' parts in the ditlerent ligures.

A A- A A are the outer walls ot' the house, which are perpendicular to the plane of the horizon, asin an ordinary house. Tithin the walls A A is a room having walls B B B B and a floor C, which, as shown, is inclined at an ang'le to the plane ot' the horizon, such inclination being, preferably, from one corner of the room to the diag'onally opposite corner. the drawings the corner c' is shown as being' the highest part oiI the i'loor C, which slopes downwardly `from all parts tothe corner c. which is the lowest part ot' the room. rl`he walls B B B B oi the room are at right angies or substantially right angles to the i'loor C-"that is, they occupy the same position in relation to the 'floor (l as do the walls of an ordinary room to the iioor thereof.

D is the ceiling' of the inner room. E E are posts or columns therein which extend `from the l'loor to the ceiling' o1' to cross-beams F F,

Gr is a skylight in the ceiling' l), by means oi" which the room is lighted.

Between the outer walls A A and the walls B B of the inner room are Vfalse walls [l l-l, which form passages I l between the inner and outer walls and conceal the `inclination oli the inner walls B B.

a a are entrance and exit doors in the outer walls A A, and are entrance and exit doors between the inner room and the passages I l'. The i'ioor of the passage l, leading to the door 7) at the lower corner c o'l'l the inner room, is

Y tion may be effected so gradually that one parallel with the plane vof the horizon or at right angles with the outer walls A A, since the entrance-corner c is on a level with the door a. Preferably the door 7) is surrounded with a screen S, so that the interior of the room is invisible from the passage I. The floor of the passage l may, as indicated in Fig. 2,be made to slope gradually upward from the level of the door d to the level of the door b and also to gradually assume the inclination of the floor C, so that a person will pass through the door o to or from the inner room without any sudden change of level or inclination. By making the passage I of considerable length the change of level and inclinapassing between the outer and inner doors will not be conscious of the change, except through the effect produced. Either the door t or the door a' may be used as the entrance, though 1 prefer the door a for this purpose, as l believe the best effects are produced by entering the inner room at its highest part.

The floor C of the inner room maybe given any desired inclination, the greater the inclination the greater being the effect produced. The inclination should not, however, be so great as to cause a person or object to slide or fall from one part of the room to another.

The posts E E are at right angles or substantially right angles to the floor C, the ceiling D and cross-beams F are parallel to the fioor, and any accessories that may be placed in the room are made to assume the same positions in relation to the Hoor, walls, and ceiling that they would in an ordinary room.

There are no windows in the walls B B of the inner room through which objects exterior to the building can be seen and their position compared with that of the room and its contents, the daylight being admitted only through the skylight Gr. Preferably the passages I l receive light only through the doors a a, so thatthe passages outside the doors L are in partial darkness.

The result of this construction is that to a person entering the inner room, having no opportunity to compare its position with other buildings or objects in the landscape, the ioor C of the room appears to be level, as in an ordinary room. Hence one attemps to walk in the room as upon a level surface, while at the same time the force of gravity tends to draw one from the higher to the lower part of the room, and the consequent lack of coordination between the muscular action and the mental i processes gives rise to extremely amusing and puzzling effects.

lVhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. A house comprising outer walls perpendicular to the plane of the horizon, a room within said house having a floor inclined to the plane of the horizon, and walls at right angles to said ioor; walls between said outer walls and the walls of said room, whereby the inclination of the walls of said room is concealed, and passages are provided between the outer walls of the house and the walls of the room, and entrance and exit openings, substantially as set forth.

2. A house comprising' outer walls perpendicular to the plane of the horizon, a room within said walls having a floor inclined to the plane of the horizon, and walls perpendicular to said floor, passages between said outer walls and said room, so arranged that the inclination of said room is not observable from said passages, and means of entrance to and exit from said room, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

3. A house comprising outer walls perpendicular to the plane of the horizon, and a room within said walls having a floor inclined to the plane of the horizon, and walls perpendicular to said Hoor, and so arranged that objects exterior to the room are not visible from within the room, and that the interior of the room is not observable from any point exterior thereto, substantially as and for the purposes set forth. l

4. The combination with a house of a room having a iioor inclined to the plane of the horizon, and walls perpendicular 4to the floor, means of entrance to and exit from said room, and means for preventing the observation of the interior of said room from the exterior thereof, and the observation of objects exte.- rior to the room from the interior thereof, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

5. A trick-house comprising perpendicular outer walls, and a room within said walls having a ioor inclined at an angle to the plane of the horizon, and walls at right angles to said lioor.

ln testimony whereof l have hereunto subscribed my naine this 19th day of July, A. D.

ARTHUR B. GRIFFEN. Titnessesz (LARKsoN A. COLLINS, JAMES A. LYNCH. 

